Over the years, B2B space has evolved tremendously. Mainly due to the changing buying behavior, customer experience has taken a lot of precedence. B2B buyers have raised their expectation bar because of the experience they enjoy from the B2C landscape. As per a recent PwC survey, “73% of consumers cite customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions.” Any B2B buyer arriving at your website and gets a bad experience, they will undoubtedly switch to a competitor’s website.
Companies are restructuring their services now as they are realizing the gap in customer expectation and experience. Companies are doing a lot of homework before the initial conversation itself. Companies and marketers need to understand that buyers engage through both online and offline channels. Buyers are accustomed to tailored experience and when they encounter B2B interaction which is informal, they face great dissatisfaction.
Better customer experience, hands down will help you to gain traction. Customers return only if they see value in your service. One of the best initiatives could be to adopt a conversational sales technique. Rather than bombarding with irrelevant generic messages, marketers need to personalize messages as per the customers’ needs and seek to engage more in a real-time scenario. Putting a customer’s need first can show tangible benefits for both the marketer and the organization.
In a global world, delivering an exceptional customer experience will certainly play a key role in sales success and growth. Customers will appreciate efforts that has a more human appeal than use of automated marketing tools. Customers prefer to get associated with companies that is ethical and focuses on serving customers rather than solely aim to increase ROI.
WHAT CAN B2B MARKETERS OR AGENCIES DO TO CLOSE MORE DEALS?
Put customer first
Without a doubt, putting customer first is what every marketer has to do. It is important to treat customers well for long-term profitability. Gartner’s research revealed that 89 percent of companies will compete on the basis of customer experience by this year. The best way to ensure customer focus is by actively listening to the customers.
Formulate strategies that help to build a strong relationship with your target accounts. This will also help to manage post-purchase customer life cycle or retention as well as grow accounts. Besides, it is essential to realize that the ABM strategy needs to be humanistic in approach. Placing your customers first is the paramount objective that companies need to fulfill before launching any targeted marketing initiatives such as ABM.
Understand your customers
Understanding your customers requires the culture of customer obsession at the heart of your sales and marketing strategy. What is more important than placing your customers first and understanding them is building a culture in your company around your customers. Really understanding their needs is critical to you offering a solution that really satisfies them for the long-term.
In Conclusion, the core of your sales & marketing strategy must be centered around a culture of customer obsession. Therefore, companies should allocate resources towards building such culture of customer obsession.